[QUOTE=dans.engel;138223]Personally I think that ALW's Phantom is so romanticized that often his deformity falls short of Leroux's. Though I am not a fan of Lon Chaney's (I think it is a frankenstein copy-cat) [QUOTE]

Hmmm... I never think of Frankenstein when I see Lon Chaney's Phantom.
IMHO Chaney wanted to be close to Leroux.

As for least favorite...I don't like young sexy Phantoms in the romantic versions.
I don't see the Phantom as Prince Charming .

Hmmm... I never think of Frankenstein when I see Lon Chaney's Phantom.
IMHO Chaney wanted to be close to Leroux.

Oh, please don't get me wrong, Chaney's Phantom is by far the closest to the book! For that I certainly respect him! His expressions are wonderful he expresses Erik's character without opening his mouth which is quite a feat when so much of his character is based in his voice!

Still I would have to say my favorite phantom is good old Michael Crawford!
(I noticed I never came out with my direct answer previously...)

It's been a few years since I posted here, but I'd like to point out that I never had a problem with Claude Rains' make-up. It's not in my top ten, but I'm aware that audiences were coping with the horrors of WWII at the time, and it succeeds in looking like a painful acid burn, which is consistent with what happened to Erique Claudin in that film.

"In empty court there flies firefly flows, and in high pedestal there walksn foxs" ~Song at Midnight

I might be in the minority here, but actually I don't really like Lon Chaney's deformity. To me that just wasn't how I pictured Erik when I read the book. Though in technical terms it's still AMAZING what he managed to do.
The ALW stage deformity is pretty nice, though it's also not close to how I picture Erik, it IS pretty gruesome. Though one of the main problems I have with it is not that it's on one half of the face, but more that it looks like someone spilled acid over his face rather than that he was born with it.
Anyway, I prefer a Leroux based (nose-less) deformity where Erik has an overall skeletal-like appearance (so not only restricted to his face), and with a black mask alike to Charles Dance's (only black, not white. Or all the other colours CD Erik has up his sleeve XD)

But Lon was still pretty good, and MUCH better compared to Gerik, and Claude Rains (though he is great, the make up was... bleh!)

Errr, does it count if I pick a 'fav deformity' from another movie I wish they had done for Erik? I'm surprised many aren't more extreme deformities, since Erik was supposed to be terrifying:

How about the "Darkman" (Liam Neeson) deformity on any of POTO depictions? Now that was really creepy! I know, goes beyond even Leroux's description, but maybe we're too used to the 'milder' deformities in this techno day and age that the traditional 'noseless' versions don't seem as scary.

I'll just say my best faviroite has to be Lon Chane's makeup he looked a lot like Buquet described hin in the move and I know how Long Chaney was famous with his faces...I think Lexous himself would have been pleased with Chaney's protrayal of the Phantom

I agree, EAAB... Darkman had a really awesome disfigurement, and I certainly wouldn't mind if a film version of the Phantom looked something like that, even though it's different from the "death's head" Leroux described. The way Two-Face's disfigurement looked in The Dark Knight was also pretty awesome... Not too logical, since you'd expect that he would have died of infection pretty quickly, but something similar to that could be an interesting look for a Phantom in the ALW version. Even the version of Two-Face in Batman Forever (ironically also directed by Joel Schumacher), while not great, looked more gruesome and impressive than Gerard Butler's deformity in the 2004 movie.

Oh yeah! How COULD I forget Two-Face in the "Dark Night"? Now that was well done where creepiness is concerned. Great concepts for a more frightening Erik, but yep, both disfigurements would have a problem with infection-if Erik had their types of deformities, he'd have to be hooked up to antibiotic drips for the rest of his natural life, well, that would be out too, antibotics weren't invented yet in the 1800s, LOL! Of course, without any skin, he'd have the problem of keeping the wounds / deformity from seeping...ick. Yikes, what a topic!

Yeah, I agree, the other Two Face from Schumaker's film would have been better too. About the 'new' Two Face in the "Dark Night"--I wondered if that happend in real life, how would he keep his eye from falling out? Missing an eyelid cannot be an easy thing to live with....

While I like ALW's stage make-up, particularly on Crawford, it falls short of my favorite. I understand the practicality behind it for being able to mic the actor--it was absolutely a logic choice.

Chaney's make-up was rather effective, especially considering the era, and it goes hand in hand with being close to Leroux and Kay's descriptions. So that is where my heart lies. I WANT to feel moved by how deformed he is.

2004 movie was a worst for me. The mask came of and I quite literally sat blinking in my seat going "umm, excuse me, MAKE-UP!" Some of my co-workers were unfamiliar with PTO and saw the movie ... I had a lot of explaining to do.

"The only way to ensure a dream withstands the torrents of time is to lay the foundation in hard work and skills. Anything less and the accomplishment is not worth recognition."-Erik- from my novel ~Nightingale's Strain~
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